For the second year, specialists at the Vitebsk Vegetable Variety Testing Station have been harvesting southern crops.
For the second year now, specialists of the Vitebsk Vegetable Variety Testing Station have been harvesting southern crops. According to the station's agronomist Andrey Ivanov, watermelons yielded well in 2013. Approximately 600 centners per hectare, which is about twice the yield in the same Astrakhan region, from where the striped fruit of this heat-loving plant is brought to us. This year's cold June and not the warmest August have seriously affected the watermelon yield, so they plan to harvest around 300 c/ha. However, melons, on the contrary, are yielding much more than last year.
However, it is too early to talk about the mass cultivation of southern crops in our region. Specialists will be able to determine whether these varieties are suitable for cultivation in the northern region of the country only based on the results of three-year research. If the answer is positive, then the seeds (currently imported from abroad and not officially distributed in the republic) will be allowed to be sold in Belarus.
Anastasia Alimova, "Vitebskiye Vesti"